Estrojam shows off the female creative spirit

Moira McCormick, Special to the TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

"Sleep is so last year," says Samaiya Ewing with a grin, and her half-dozen REM-deprived female cohorts--the architects of Estrojam 2005--shake their variously long-tressed, green-streaked, kerchiefed and dreadlocked heads in vigorous agreement.

It's 10:30 p.m. at a Wicker Park coffee shop on a recent Monday, and these seven twentysomething women arrayed on couches and chairs, most of them armed with laptops, are spending another in a countless string of late nights coordinating the third annual Estrojam, the women's post-alternative music and culture festival. Featuring more than two dozen music acts, a film festival, workshop, panel discussion, art fair and more, Estrojam takes place Wednesday through Saturday at a number of prominent Chicago venues, including Metro, Bottom Lounge, Uncommon Ground and Circuit.

Headliners at Estrojam 2005 include Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls with her side-project band the Volunteers, including Jody Bleyle, formerly of seminal riot-grrrl band Team Dresch; downtempo New York combo Brazilian Girls; Olympia, Wash.-based queercore/hip-hop duo Scream Club; Portland, Ore.'s buzzed-about one-woman-band Anna Oxygen; San Francisco electronica trio Numbers; locally based electric cellist Helen Money; Japanese punk band Limited Express (Has Gone?); Chicago house music diva Screamin' Rachael, who hosts Saturday's Break-Dancing, Street Dancing, and DJ Clinic; and for the first time, a dance troupe: local collective Breakbone Danceco., whose leader, Atalee Judy, melds punk slamdancing with martial arts.

Estrojam evolved from Chicago's 2001 Ladyfest, says festival founder and co-director Tammy Khyentse James, who was also behind Ladyfest (itself an offshoot of the 2000 original festival of the same name in Olympia, Wash., 1990s riot-grrrl capital). Past Estrojam headliners have ranged from idiosyncratic singer-songwriter Cat Power to hip-hop artist Bahamadia to rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson--a strikingly diverse array of music made either entirely by women, or by groups led by women.

"Misogynism being so rampant in society, and in the music world, even now, women don't get their fair share of the focus," says Screamin' Rachael, whose own career has encompassed punk, hip-hop and house. "Estrojam is a phenomenal showcase for us."

This year, says James--a lithe, striking presence in Harley Davidson tee, silver facial jewelry and a topknot of tawny dreads --she and Estrojam's co-organizers, while keeping with Ejam's characteristic eclecticism, "wanted to focus on non-violent-cause-oriented artists." Hence the presence of such performers as Atalee Judy, whose moshpit-inspired Breakbone Danceco. "shows women how to be more aggressive with their bodies. Eight out of 10 students I teach in my bodyslam classes," says Judy, "were abused as kids or victimized as women. The bodyslam style makes them feel strong and empowered."

Amy Ray, Estrojam's de facto top draw, is a longtime activist in gay/lesbian rights, the environment, and other causes, and in fact recently concluded a trip with fellow artist-activists to support the indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico, home of that country's anticapitalist Zapatista movement.

James says that it has always been Estrojam's mission to make non-violent social change through the arts. But that goal has become more focused for her during the last year. The Massachusetts native and Columbia College grad (anthropology and film) has formally embraced Buddhism.

"I'm studying how to develop Estrojam's non-violent social change angle at Naropa University, getting my graduate degree in social action based in Buddhist philosophy," says James. "It has involved things like meditating on a mountaintop over Christmas. It's a bit challenging at times, going back and forth to Chicago for Ejam stuff while on a student budget--but it's helping me learn lots about non-profit management and ways Estrojam can have a positive effect on the community."

Estrojam is also designed to be a whole lotta fun, says James. That's a primary description of such acts as ukulele band the Hazzards, whose video "My Gay Boyfriend" is currently a hot Internet download, and burlesque show "Girlie-Q Variety Hour--The Late Show," produced by Estrojam production manager Heather Chappell, founder of the Chicago Kings drag-king revue.

And while it's women-centric, men are welcome at Estrojam: quite a few of them perform in the featured bands, including Brazilian Girls and Numbers, and there's always a healthy male attendance as well, says James.

Still, notes Cindy Wonderful, who with partner Sarah Adorable make up the duo Scream Club, women have to keep fighting to stay in the game.

"If you listen to Top 40, the ratio of girls to guys is low," says Wonderful. "We have to build our community any way we can--parties, 'zines, festivals like Estrojam.